The Subtle New Alternative to Lip Fillers
According to Dr. Melissa Doft, a plastic surgeon based on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, lip threads are about to be the next big craze in lip augmentation.
“To me it’s more about the delineation of the lip,” she says of the procedure, which has been FDA approved for a little under two years. “It does add some volume, because your body reacts to having the thread, but to me it’s more about perfecting the lip shape with the threads.” The effect is more of an additional gentle curve to the lips rather than all-over volume, ideal for people looking to subtly enhance and define their natural lip shape.
Doft explains that she creates a small puncture hole at the corner of the mouth, right next to the lip line, and uses a cannula—a thin tube that can be inserted into the body to place a foreign object—to direct the thread above the lip, stopping at the Cupid’s bow. If you’re looking to treat both the top and bottom lips, that would mean at least four separate threads—two on top and two on bottom, although more than one thread can be inserted for more volume. After it’s been placed, the end of the thread is trimmed with surgical scissors to remain flush with the skin and manipulated so the tail falls into the small hole in the lip. “It can work its way out, but you just trim [the end]. It’s not a permanent problem.”